In the next place, Celsus, as is his custom,
having neither proved nor established anything, proceeds to say, as if
we talked of God in a manner that was neither holy nor pious, that
“it is perfectly manifest that they babble about God in a way
that is neither holy nor reverential;” and he imagines that we do
these things to excite the astonishment of the ignorant, and that we do
not speak the truth regarding the necessity of punishments for those
who have sinned. And accordingly he likens us to those who
“in the Bacchic mysteries introduce phantoms and objects of
terror.” With respect to the mysteries of Bacchus, whether
there is any trustworthy
37133713 [The word
“reliable” is used here. I cannot let it stand, and
have supplied an English word instead]. account of them, or
none that is such, let the Greeks tell, and let Celsus and his
boon-companions
37143714συνθιασῶται. listen. But
we defend our own procedure, when we say that our object is to reform
the human race, either by the threats of punishments which we are
persuaded are necessary for the whole world,
37153715τῷ παντί.
and which perhaps are not without use
37163716οὐκ
ἀχρήστους.
On Origen’s views respecting rewards and punishments, cf.
Huet’s
Origeniana, book ii. question xi. to
those who are to endure them; or by the promises made to those who have
lived virtuous lives, and in which are contained the statements
regarding the blessed termination which is to be found in the kingdom
of God, reserved for those who are worthy of becoming His
subjects.

3713 [The word
“reliable” is used here. I cannot let it stand, and
have supplied an English word instead].